Each Team's Top ten

[Fourier]

As you can see from my avatar I have always been a fan of guy who could throw a punch. That said being new to this board I see a lot of rankings but did not see anywhere where there was a team by team list of the best fighters to wear the uniform so I was curious to see who people would rank as their team's top ten fighters of all-time. My Oilers, despite being known for skill during the glory years had some pretty tough characters. In no real order other than how they came to mind here is my top 10 for the Oilers:

1) Dave Semenko
2) Dave Brown
3) Marty McSorely
4) Georges Laroque
5) Steve MacIntyre
6) Dave Manson
7) Sean Brown
8) Kevin McLelland
9) Louie Debrusk
10) Milan Lucic

Pretty decent list for a relatively new franchise.

Click to read more...

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

not necessarily in order

Terry O'Reilly
Stan Johnathan
Lyndon Byers
Jay Miller
PJ Stock
John Wensink
Cam Neely
Milan Lucic
Shawn Thornton
Zdeno Chara

HM: only because he was outright mean, not necessarily just as a fighter...Eddie Shore

 

[brachyrynchos]

WSH: no order, and just players that I saw/remember...

Craig Berube
Alan May
Nick Kypreos
Kevin Kaminski
Donald Brashear
Enrico Ciccone (wasn't w/Caps that long)
Chris Simon
Dan Kordic
Randy Holt
Scott Stevens (his first couple of seasons)
Tom Wilson, Brendan Witt, Stephen Peat, Matt Hendricks, and Alexander Semin (just kidding).
Edit- Neil Sheehy

 

[Sheppy]

Boston (No Order):
Terry O'Reilly
Stan Jonathan
Colton Orr
Jay Miller
Lyndon Byers
Shawn Thornton
Milan Lucic
John Wensink
Pj Stock
Chris Nilan

Some of these guys only had a cup of coffee with the Bruins, but I'm adding them anyway.

 

[Air Budd Dwyer]

Detroit in no order:

Only players I've actually watched play.

Bob Probert
Joe Kocur
Stu Grimson
Troy Crowder (7 games lol)
Darren McCarty
Aaron Downey
Brad May
Brendan Shanahan
Martin Lapointe
The last spot is a toss up of Chris Chelios, Gerard Gallant, Vladimir Konstantinov, or maybe Shawn Burr, mostly because my memory is failing me right now.

Guys who I didn't see play would include Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, maybe Tiger Williams lol.

 

[Fourier]

not necessarily in order

Terry O'Reilly
Stan Johnathan
Lyndon Byers
Jay Miller
PJ Stock
John Wensink
Cam Neely
Milan Lucic
Shawn Thornton
Zdeno Chara

HM: only because he was outright mean, not necessarily just as a fighter...Eddie Shore

Growing up a Habs fan I hated the Bruins but I always enjoyed watching them play. Jonathan was a beauty. That guy was almost the definition of toughness.

 

[Your Boy Troy]

From the top of my head and in no order for Pittsburgh:

• Eric Godard
• Deryk Engelland
• Marty McSorley
• Bob “Battleship” Kelly
• Francis Leroux
• Ryan Reaves
• Jamie Oleksiak
• Eric Cairns
• Alek Stojanov
• Terry Ruskowski

Could have added Steve MacIntyre, but he never actually fought in Pittsburgh. Jim McKenzie didn’t take his role seriously while in Pittsburgh as well. Maybe Tocchet deserves a spot? Eric Cairns was certainly past his prime.

Pittsburgh has an impressive list of alumnus when it comes to punching bags/mediocre fighters:

• Jay Caufield
• Craig Adams
• Steve Webb
• Troy Loney
• Steve McKenna
• Tom Kostopoulos
• Gary Rissling
• Dan Focht
• Bobby Farnham
• Dave Roche
• Tyler Wright
• Matt Barnaby
• Kelly Buchberger
• Matt Bradley
• Richard Zemlak

 

[Mandar]

Rangers in my 50 years of fandom (not in any order):

• Colton Orr
• Steve Vickers
• Nick Fotiu
• Joey Kocur
• Kris King
• Ron Harris
• Jeff Beaukeboom
• Tie Domi
• Brad Park
• Teddy Irvine

Honorable mention to: Larry Melnyk, Eddie Johnstone, Dan Cloutier, Troy Malette, Nick Kypreos.

Pseudo tough guys: Dale Purinton, Rudy Poeschek, Ed Hospodar

 

[AZviaNJ]

Islanders:

Gillies
Nystrom
Howatt
Duane Sutter
Gordie Lane
Vukota
Baumgartner
Cairns
One hit wonder Justin Johnson
and of course, Billy Smith

 

[Howie Hodge]

Buffalo Sabres

Jim Schoenfeld
Jerry Korab
Larry Playfair
Danny Gare
Rick Dudley
Craig Rivet
Mike Foligno
Brad May
Rob Ray
Lee Fogolin

Short term Sabres

Dave Schultz
Clark Gillies
Valmore James
BobHalkides
Mike Hartman
Bill Stewart
Mike Curran
Gord Donnelly
Mike Moller
Kevin McGuire

Kill or be killed
John Scott

Most Boring
Andrew Peters

Underrated
Rick Martin
Rene Robert
Mike Foligno
Tim Horton (ask Dave shultz who was bearhugged to the ice)
Bill Hajt (Also tied up Schultz)

I lived in Cleveland in the mid to late eighties - so I may be missing a couple...

 

[brachyrynchos]

Islanders:

Gillies
Nystrom
Howatt
Duane Sutter
Gordie Lane
Vukota
Baumgartner
Cairns
One hit wonder Justin Johnson
and of course, Billy Smith

Good list. I'd include Rich Pilon, who never shyed away from dropping the gloves. And even though his tenure was brief, Brian Curran still holds the team record for most penalty minutes in a season (356 in '86-87), the majority of which were fighting majors.

 

[ted2019]

Flyers:
Dave Brown
Glen Cochrane
Behn Wilson
Mel Bridgeman
Eric Lindros
Moose Dupont
Rick Tocchet
Paul Holmgren
Dave Schultz
Bob Kelly

 

[FaceWash]

Flyers:
Dave Brown
Glen Cochrane
Behn Wilson
Mel Bridgeman
Eric Lindros
Moose Dupont
Rick Tocchet
Paul Holmgren
Dave Schultz
Bob Kelly

agree with the list except that i'd replace lindros with dave richter

 

[Sheppy]

Rangers in my 50 years of fandom (not in any order):

• Colton Orr
• Steve Vickers
• Nick Fotiu
• Joey Kocur
• Kris King
• Ron Harris
• Jeff Beaukeboom
• Tie Domi
• Brad Park
• Teddy Irvine

Honorable mention to: Larry Melnyk, Eddie Johnstone, Dan Cloutier, Troy Malette, Nick Kypreos.

Pseudo tough guys: Dale Purinton, Rudy Poeschek, Ed Hospodar

Funny fact, you probably know this though... Teddy Irvine is the father of Chris Jericho.

Also no Boogaard? I guess he wasn't at his best when he was a Ranger, though.

 

[DaaaaB's]

Boston (No Order):
Terry O'Reilly
Stan Jonathan
Colton Orr
Jay Miller
Lyndon Byers
Shawn Thornton
Milan Lucic
John Wensink
Pj Stock
Chris Nilan

Some of these guys only had a cup of coffee with the Bruins, but I'm adding them anyway.

Pretty much my list except no Chris Nilan for me. Played way too much for the habs to make a Bruins list imo. I'd leave Orr off too since he only played like 10 games for Boston.

I'd replace them with two of Neely, Chara, Ted Green, Al Secord, Ferny Flamen or Wayne Cashman. Flamen was considered to be the heavyweight champ in the 50's by a lot of old timers.

 

[ThePlanet]

San Jose Sharks:

Link Gaetz
Jeff Odgers
Andrei Nazarov
Brantt Myhres
Owen Nolan
Marty McSorley
Michael Haley
Brad Staubitz
Bryan Marchment
Dody Wood

All time punching bag:

Jody Shelley

 

[DaaaaB's]

San Jose Sharks:

Link Gaetz
Jeff Odgers
Andrei Nazarov
Brantt Myhres
Owen Nolan
Marty McSorley
Michael Haley
Brad Staubitz
Bryan Marchment
Dody Wood

All time punching bag:

Jody Shelley

Shelley was a better fighter than most of those guys you listed. Nazarov was the ultimate punching bag.

 

[Sheppy]

Shelley was a better fighter than most of those guys you listed. Nazarov was the ultimate punching bag.

Agreed.

 

[ThePlanet]

Shelley was a better fighter than most of those guys you listed. Nazarov was the ultimate punching bag.

I seem to remember Nazarov being a far more frightening player for the opposition, because he was always willing to go a little over the edge. I was at a game in the mid-nineties when Matt Johnson boarded him, breaking his jaw in several places, if I remember correct. As he was being escorted off the ice for medical attention, he broke away from the refs, skated back to Johnson, and lit him up before the refs could pull them apart again. Hell, he got tossed from a game after he blatantly head-butted one of the Winnipeg Jets during a fight. The guy was dirty, and mean.

I honestly don't recall witnessing Shelly win a single fight in teal, up until the day before he was traded. The guy is a class act, through and through, but I took it as trading him at his peak value.

Then again, it could all just be chance of observation, or personal bias.

 

[Sheppy]

Side note, Link Gaetz was a lunatic. So many stories I've read about that guy...

 

[lancer247]

agree with the list except that i'd replace lindros with dave richter

I would keep Lindros and replace Moose with Richter and replace Kelly with Berube.

Brown
Wilson
Cochrane
Tocchett
Berube
Bridgeman
Lindros
Richter
Schultz
Holmgren

 

[DaaaaB's]

I seem to remember Nazarov being a far more frightening player for the opposition, because he was always willing to go a little over the edge. I was at a game in the mid-nineties when Matt Johnson boarded him, breaking his jaw in several places, if I remember correct. As he was being escorted off the ice for medical attention, he broke away from the refs, skated back to Johnson, and lit him up before the refs could pull them apart again. Hell, he got tossed from a game after he blatantly head-butted one of the Winnipeg Jets during a fight. The guy was dirty, and mean.

I honestly don't recall witnessing Shelly win a single fight in teal, up until the day before he was traded. The guy is a class act, through and through, but I took it as trading him at his peak value.

Then again, it could all just be chance of observation, or personal bias.

Shelley's best days were definitely with Columbus. He has a few wins over Laraque including a tko. Beat Boogaard once too. I remember him knocking out Orr when he was with the Sharks but can't recall much else from his time there.

Nazarov was bit nutty for sure but he was such a punching bag too. When he played for Boston he fought constantly but usually just tried hugging guys to death and would almost always lose. He bloodied up Probert once but arguably lost the fight. Luckily, the Bruins had Stock and Bonvie at the time who were both tough as nails.

 

[afrobomber11]

Avs:
Scott Parker
Jeff Odgers
Pete Worrell
Bob Boughner
George Parros
Cody McLeod
Wade Belak
Dale Hunter
Darius Kasparaitis
Jim Cummins
Matthew Barnaby

Adam Foote
Ian Cole
Chris Dingman
Dennis Bonvie
Brad May
David Koci

Mad Respect for both Landeskog and Forsberg for always holding their own

some guys weren't around for long but they are what they are

 

[DaaaaB's]

Avs:
Scott Parker
Jeff Odgers
Pete Worrell
Bob Boughner
George Parros
Cody McLeod
Wade Belak
Dale Hunter
Darius Kasparaitis
Jim Cummins
Matthew Barnaby

Adam Foote
Ian Cole
Chris Dingman
Dennis Bonvie
Brad May
David Koci

Mad Respect for both Landeskog and Forsberg for always holding their own

some guys weren't around for long but they are what they are

That is a very bizarre list. Koci, May, and Bonvie were way better fighters than Kasparaitis, Barnaby, Hunter and McLeod.

Bonvie played 1 game for Colorado, Parros played 2 and neither had a fight. Kasparaitis had one fight, Hunter had two. Why don't you have Chris Simon or Frankie Leroux on the list. Patrick Bordeleau should likely be on it too.

 

[frisco]

From the top of my head and in no order for Pittsburgh:

• Eric Godard
• Deryk Engelland
• Marty McSorley
• Bob “Battleship” Kelly
• Francis Leroux
• Ryan Reaves
• Jamie Oleksiak
• Eric Cairns
• Alek Stojanov
• Terry Ruskowski

Could have added Steve MacIntyre, but he never actually fought in Pittsburgh. Jim McKenzie didn’t take his role seriously while in Pittsburgh as well. Maybe Tocchet deserves a spot? Eric Cairns was certainly past his prime.

Pittsburgh has an impressive list of alumnus when it comes to punching bags/mediocre fighters:

• Jay Caufield
• Craig Adams
• Steve Webb
• Troy Loney
• Steve McKenna
• Tom Kostopoulos
• Gary Rissling
• Dan Focht
• Bobby Farnham
• Dave Roche
• Tyler Wright
• Matt Barnaby
• Kelly Buchberger
• Matt Bradley
• Richard Zemlak

Paul Baxter and Steve Durbano have to been in there somewhere. Also, Bryan Watson always held his own and at 5'9 seemed like he always was at a disadvantage. But he'd fight anyone.

My Best-Carey